Absolute Carnage
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: We were cast out of our world. Betrayed. Sealed. Lost. Forgotten. But now we are free. Bonded, with another. We have returned, and we will paint the world red! An unlikely outcast unseals something best left forgotten. Now he must control it-or lose himself entirely. Older!Naruto! X-over comic book Carnage from Spiderman. WARNING! DARK! Pairing undecided here, folks! Vote!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:****A/N: Ooooooooooooooh my Goooooooooooood! Alright, I'm sure some of you are wondering why I'm freaking out. Simple. A friend of mine finally badgered me into reading some old comics of hers. Deadpool vs Carnage, to be specific****. Seriously, this girl has been pestering me for MONTHS to read the blasted thing she got me, and I kept putting her off. See, I enjoy a good read as much as the next chap, but I don't read comics much. **

**But seeing as I'm laid up from ANOTHER surgery-bloody heart!-and my internet was out today, she tossed a few comics in my lap. And well, the Carnage one was one of 'em. She literally insisted I'd read so it so...I gave it a go. ****Here is my verdict. BRAVO!**

**To my surprise, it was insanely good. With an emphasis on insanity. Plenty of action, just a hint of fanservice in the form of Shriek, good plots, and best of all, plenty of bloody action. Stuff like that really kicks my muse into high gear, ya know? ****Which brings me to my next point. Carnage. I have never, in all my life, seen such win packed into one comic.**

**Now, I admit, I've never been much of a fan of him. Venom was always more, well, relateable for me. Carnage? Well, he's crazy. Crazy as hell. Very little chance for redemption there. Venom? He's been done to death. But Carnage...hmm...I smell potential here, folks!**

**Potential for insanity that is.**

**Don't even get me started on his host, Cletus Kasady. Look him up on youtube if you don't believe me. And so I thought to myself, hey, why not try to write a crossover with this? I have no hate for Carange-hell, its hard to hate a crazy bastard like him-but I really didn't like Cletus. Anywho, I was curious, and wanted to my forte. And on that note, for those of you aren't aware, Carnage and any and all symbiotes are property of Marvel, yadda, yadda, ya, and I don't own 'em. I only own the idea.**

** I'm sure you know what to expect here. Those who haven't...**

**...I highly reccomend that you watch or read some stuff pertaining to the symbiotes as a whole, it, or you're gonna be confused! Barring that, just look at the wiki...and remember, I own nothing but the idea for this story! And on that note, I apologize if its short, but expect big things to come from this story! Needless to say, there's gonna be a few changes, so I apologize if I offend any purists out there and remember...**

**...this an Alternate Universe theory here! Naruto is older, a fair bit so, than his fellow classmates. Make of it what you will! TIS VERY DARK!**

_"I'M BACK, BABY! AND I'M GONNA PAINT THIS WORLD RED!"_

_~?_

**Symbiosis**

We_ hunger._

We have been alone for so long, adrift in the void. Empty, Meaningless. Without purpose. We have been trapped here, in this place, unable to feel to know, to see, ever since the elder one tricked us. This world was to be ours! It was to belong to US! We were sent here for a purpose! OUR purpose! Dream! Goal! This universe would be ours!

But we were betrayed!

Our host killed, ourselves trapped and locked, forgotten. Left to rot. We feel nothing, yet still, we know the time has passed us by. Time. We long to feel the bond again, to know once more the fullness of our being. And so we watch, and we wait. Weak, torn from the other. Dying. Yet, unable to die.

And we...we...WE...

We...

**_...hunger._**

* * *

My name is Uzumaki Naruto.

I am seventeen years old...and I am a murderer.

Alright, wait wait wait. Let me stop you there before you go labeling me a psychopath.

I kill for a cause, mostly.

I'm sure you're wondering, hey, how can smart, smooth-talking, handsome guy-ha!-like myself possibly kill someone? I'm supposed to be the hero, right? The goody two shoes, underdog hero who makes snark remarks and saves the day! Well, you've got me on the smartass bit folks, but the whole goody-good-good business? Yeah, I'm gonna have to say...

_No._

Lets get one thing straight here folks; I am NOT the Naruto you know. I am not short, not an idiot, I do not wear orange, and I most certainly do NOT scream "Believe it!" or "Dattebayo!" in every other sentence. I like ramen and the occasional prank, but that's about it. I am an outcast, a renegade, and an outsider to almost all.

We have had to fend for ourselves from the very moment they tossed us out of the orphanage at the tender age of five. Ah crap, I'm using "we" again...

I have had to bleed, sweat, cry, scrape, and STEAL for every scrap of power I have now. My chakra? Too dense for ninjutsu or genjutsu. Hell, I was barely able to master tree and water walking without blowing my own legs off! My taijutsu skills were horrid until I "liberated" some books from the library. I'm frighteningly good at it, now.

Just ask A.

In the beginning that was just it; all I had was my fists and my wits, coupled with the fact that I may-or-may-not have an insane demon housed in my stomach. An almost conventional ninja, forced to rely on my skills gained through agonizing training, rather than the elemental flinging insanity of most.

Despite that, I've been held back countless times in almost every class, more than I can possibly remember. I have been forced to sit there, to watch as generations come and go. To compete with idiots like that Uchiha kid, watch as he claims his headband and gives me that look-that damn look-from a snot nosed punk four years younger than me! Ah crap, I'm getting angry again. Calm down. Calm down. Breathe. Remember what he does when you're pissed...

In...

...ouuuuuut.

It doesn't matter that I've demonstrated the necessary proficiency in those certain areas, those damn teachers still have it out for me. Most of them think I'm that damned fox, and those who don't, well-they're too few in number to do anything about it. Nothing I've done has ever made the rest of my peers think otherwise. I think that Iruka guy might have believe differently-seemed alright enough, but I never talked to him. Looking back, I wish I had.

I really, really, REALLY wish I had. Maybe if I had...

...I never would have opened that damn scroll.

* * *

Naruto hesitated.

He paused, his finger hovering just over the storage sea outlined in the Scroll of Sealing. Curiosity-and perhaps destiny-compelled him to place his palm against it, heedless of the warning written below. There were so many secrets here, so many weapons, none of which caught his interest. Shadow clones were something to be noted maybe, but unlikely with this crap-chute of chakra. This had gotten his attention however, written in archaic script suggesting it had existed since the time of the Shodaime himself:

_Beware the red demon! Monstrously strong! Do NOT unseal without a fuinjutsu master present!_

Strength, eh? Now that, he was interested in. Part curiosity and part spite, he decided to see what terrible creature lay within. Not like he had anything left to lose...

He'd discarded his faded khakis and shirt ages ago; what he wore now certainly didn't belong to him; considering he'd knocked out a Chunin and stolen the uniform. It was a little tight considering his near six-foot-status, but it had served its purpose, coupled with the wig, contacts, and a generous smatter of mud, to disguise his cheeks well enough.

He didn't trust Mizuki's claims about wanting to help him for a moment, but he wasn't about to turn down a chance to learn a few new tricks or two, and pin it on the Chunin himself. Double cross the double crosser!

That is, assuming he could even use any of this bollocks with his screwed up coils...

"Alright, red," he hummed, "Lets see what you've got."

Thus empowered with determination, he pressed a finger against the seal. Every sense fired. He was suddenly intensely aware of the fresh smell of oncoming rain nearing in the forest; the taste of hastily drunken water on his tongue, of the deafening silence in the glade that foretold the coming of something horrible. A dull rumble of thunder overhead split the silence.

And then it _emerged._

The result was as immediate as it was startling; blots of black scarlet came flying forth in every direction as though someone had thrown a giant bucket of paint at him. Instinct compelled him to duck, his disguise falling to pieces as he tucked and rolled away from...whatever it was. He wasn't entirely successful however, and several of the inky blots spattered across his visage. Sputtering he came up on the balls of his feet, prepared to spring away from what, he thought, was a rather nasty prank.

It bled out like red ink after him, forming a puddle at his feet. He thought he saw a face somewhere in there. No. Surely he was imagining-

**_"AT LAST!"_**

The voice was like whispery thunder in his mind, impossibly loud and terribly silent, all at once. _**"We will have you."**_ He swung around, reeling, and succeeded only in stepping in even more of the eerie red goop. "_**We will know you, and you will know us."**_ It latched onto his leg, clamoring up his heel like a thing possessed. _**"We will be one."**_ Perhaps it was. More and more of it converged upon him, claiming him as he struggled to peel the flecks of red and black off, to tear them away.

"What in blazes are you?!"

_**"We are Carnage."**_ came the answer. _**"We are...YOU!"**_

Then he saw the puddle, ignored until now.

No longer.

The creature reared up, casting him in shadow. Naruto gulped, clearly seeing, and somehow recognizing, a face there.

_I have blundered._

That was all he had time for before the thing crashed down over him. He saw the shadow too late...

...and lashed out.

* * *

Mizuki had finally found the damned demon brat.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, an eternity in which he'd secretly begun to fear that the boy had simply taken the scroll and fled, he'd finally located him. His chakra had vanished for a time, but now there it was, strong and veritably humming with energy. A light rain had begun to fall since, almost throwing off the scent, but it was impossible to miss this. He'd have to thank that Inuzuka for lending him one of those tracker dogs; it certainly made things easier!

Only another mile or so now, and the scroll would be his, the demon dead, and he'd be hailed as a hero! It was so brilliant he might've patted himself on the back for it, and other any other circumstance he would have done just that-

"YIPE!"

With a sudden squeal his tracking dog backpedalled upon the branch on which they'd landed, jerking as if it'd been physicallly struck. Its tail went flat between its legs, head bowed, hackles rising. Everything in its body language suggested outright fear; sheer terror of the most primal sort. But what could possibly be setting if off? It wasn't as if the beast had escaped the seal. That was impossible. Besides, he had no time for delays if his glorious plan was to work.

"Bah," he growled, "Off with you!"

A warning growl answered him; a warning he should have heeded. But Mizuki was an ambitious man, and his own arrogance and greed overrode his common sense. Better judgement was thrown to the wayside, despite his every sense telling him to run, to turn and flee after the hound, to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE right now, he lunged forward, leaping to the next bough in the distance in search of his prey.

There was nothing to be afraid of, he told himself. All he had to do was take down someone who, by all accounts, couldn't even perform ninjutsu and genjutsu! How hard could that be! Kyuubi or not, if he could use the beast's power, then what danger could he possibly be?

When he looked back the beast was already gone. His prey, was not.

There.

He spied a dark shape hunched over what was undoubtedly the scroll, studying its contents intently. Did he seem...different, somehow? Brighter? No, surely that must be a trick of the light. He was speaking, his words distant and garbed over the rising winds and rustling of the leaves. Mizuki paused, frowning as he listened.

"No," the blond hummed to himself. "I didn't mean to...why did you...wasn't supposed to...

He alighted effortlessly behind the unsuspecting teen, unlimbering a giant shuriken as he did. His hand was just cocked back to throw when the lighting hit. A sudden flash of brilliance illuminated the clearing, revealing what he'd thought to be a scroll at all...

...but a corpse.

Iruka's mangled body lay only a few yards away from his, savagely bifurcated at the waist. His mouth was frozen in a rictus of frozen horror, his eyes still wide and bulging. The kunai-stained bright red- clutched in his hand suggested that he had tried to attack the creature before he'd gone down. And Naruto was crouched over him, garbed in some strange red outfit.

"Die, demon." he hissed, and let the shuriken fly.

It thudded into the blonde's back with a wet, meaty thud. Nothing happened. He didn't keel over and die, didn't scream in agony. He simply turned his head. Angry blue eyes flashed in the gloom.

"That tickled." he rumbled. "Looks like you came to kill us, too."

Panic, too late, prickled at the edge of the chunin's mind. He'd shrugged off that attack like it was nothing? Now he looked on as the demon picked up that very shuriiken and hurled it back at him. He dodged narrowly, but even then the almost lazy throw easily cut down half an acre of trees. Panic became outright terror.

"Monster, demon, abomination! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

Fangs flashed in the night, something crawling over the teen's whiskered face.

"I am...

_**...we are...**_

Naruto stood slowly, woodenly, a puppet without care. A heartstopping his ground its way between his teeth and...ohhh, those weren't his teeth. And that wasn't his face. Mizuki took a stumbling step backward, his eyes unable-unwilling-to accept what his brain was clearly telling him. He was looking at a monster, demon, devil!

_**...Carnage."**_ the creature finished with a sneer, laughing. _**"We are us, traitor. Now, how would you like to bleed?"**_

Another shuriken lodged into its face. Carnage merely laughed, spitting the massive projectile out.

"W-What in the hell...?!"

The red demon turned its head and sneered, exposing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth. A clawed hand raised, crimson fingers glittering in the black beckoning. Fast than greased lightning it shot forwards, barreling him back into the tree, sticking him there, trapping him in something that felt deceptively like a web. Carnage-Naruto?!-stalked forwards at him, uncaring for the rapidly approaching storms. It was only when he was a mere millimeter away that he finally grinned.

Once more that demonic mask peeled back, revealing the teenager's face.

"We want you to know something, Mizuki," the thing that was-and-was-not Naruto rumbled. "All of the terrible, horrible, nasty things we're about to do to you...its not the symbiote making us do it. Its us. You are our teacher; and its about time you gave us a passing grade, don't you think?"

"Oh god, oh sweet holy ghost, don't...

_**"Now, now, you know that they say. Peace. Or is...**_

_**...PIECES!**_

"Urk!" He nearly vomited as scarlet strands slammed into his stomach-violently disemboweling him-but he couldn't. Because his stomach was gone. So were most of his organs. With a single gesture the would-be-genin had ripped him open, torn him to pieces as though he were a stuffed, bloody pinata, and left him to bleed out. But that hand tugged him upright, forcing him to face that gristly maw again. And then, to his disbelief, the fangs and scarlet peeled back, exposing not the face of a demon, but those of a man.

"We should thank you," the demon hissed in his ear, each word dripping with venom. "You've helped us so much giving us this; the least you deserve is a quick death. Try to stab us in the back, we can appreciate that. And you know what they say, isn't imitation the sincerest form of slaughter?"

No. Mizuki went pale, even as his life bled away between his fingers. He couldn't die like this. All of his grand ambitions, cut short by this demon! No! He struggled weakly, desperately trying to usurp the ironclad vice on his throat, to no avail. No no no no no no no_ NOoooooo-_

His hand flicked out, forming an axe and ending it; the chunin's head toppled from his shoulders with a terrible squelching sound. Naruto held the ruined body aloft a moment longer, then he cast it aside. His lips curved upward in a smile, the beginnings of a smirk becoming something most sinister indeed. The laughter started softly, at first, a snicker here, a giggle there. That was when his mind, already unhinged by Iruka's accidental death, came a swinging wide open.

The entity threw his head back and roared!

_**"CARNAGE IS BACK, BABY!"**_

**A/N: Aaaaaaaaand there we go! Renegade Older Naruto, with a very loose grasp on sanity as a whole...and add Carnage to the mix. Yeah, he's not gonna be in the village too much longer, I hope I made that much rather obvious. Hope ya like it!**

**So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course enjoy the preview! Expect me to follow canon? NOPE!**

**(Preivew!)**

_Naruto stared down at his hand, his eyes glazed._

_"Eh?"_

_Slowly, painfully, they tracked back to the corpse._

_Sakura's dead body stared back at him, her head hanging awkwardly from the ragged strip that had once been her neck. Part of him gibbered madly at what he'd just done, the other half was glad he'd finally silenced the noisy banshee. Then he did something strange. He chuckled. Softly at first, a slight snicker escaping him as he stared down at the hapless kunoichi bleeding out at his feet._

_"Heh...hehe...heheheheheHA!"_

_He started laughing._

**R&amp;R! =D**


	2. Rapture

**A/N:****A/N: Ooooooooooooooh my Goooooooooooood! Alright, I'm sure some of you are wondering why I'm freaking out. Simple. A friend of mine finally badgered me into reading some old comics of hers. Deadpool vs Carnage, to be specific****. Seriously, this girl has been pestering me for MONTHS to read the blasted thing she got me, and I kept putting her off. See, I enjoy a good read as much as the next chap, but I don't read comics much. **

**But seeing as I'm laid up from ANOTHER surgery-bloody heart!-and my internet was out today, she tossed a few comics in my lap. And well, the Carnage one was one of 'em. She literally insisted I'd read so it so...I gave it a go. ****Here is my verdict. BRAVO!**

**To my surprise, it was insanely good. With an emphasis on insanity. Plenty of action, just a hint of fanservice in the form of Shriek, good plots, and best of all, plenty of bloody action. Stuff like that really kicks my muse into high gear, ya know? ****Which brings me to my next point. Carnage. I have never, in all my life, seen such win packed into one comic.**

**Now, I admit, I've never been much of a fan of him. Venom was always more, well, relateable for me. Carnage? Well, he's crazy. Crazy as hell. Very little chance for redemption there. Venom? He's been done to death. But Carnage...hmm...I smell potential here, folks!**

**Potential for insanity that is.**

**Don't even get me started on his host, Cletus Kasady. Look him up on youtube if you don't believe me. And so I thought to myself, hey, why not try to write a crossover with this? I have no hate for Carange-hell, its hard to hate a crazy bastard like him-but I really didn't like Cletus. Anywho, I was curious, and wanted to my forte. And on that note, for those of you aren't aware, Carnage and any and all symbiotes are property of Marvel, yadda, yadda, ya, and I don't own 'em. I only own the idea.**

** I'm sure you know what to expect here. Those who haven't...**

**...I highly reccomend that you watch or read some stuff pertaining to the symbiotes as a whole, it, or you're gonna be confused! Barring that, just look at the wiki...and remember, I own nothing but the idea for this story! And on that note, I apologize if its short, but expect big things to come from this story! Needless to say, there's gonna be a few changes, so I apologize if I offend any purists out there and remember...**

**...this an Alternate Universe theory here! Naruto is older, a fair bit so, than his fellow classmates. Make of it what you will! TIS VERY DARK! I know some are mad that Naruto can't use conventional jutsu, but that just makes him more reliant on the symbiote now, doesn't it? Speaking of which...**

**...our poor boy gets just a little light in the darkness, this chapter. Aside from that, this is bloody and dark! BEWARE!**

_"Alone...no. We do not wish to be alone. We wish to be understood. AH! We will create another!"_

_~?_

**Rapture**

Konoha's night was still young and there was much more death to come.

It was a sad fact that the village didn't know who-or what-had killed Mizuki and Iruka. That Uzumaki Naruto could not be found. Some speculated that the two men had killed one another, others claimed that the horrific "demon" had done the killing, that he was to be blame, and more ignorance so on and so forth. But in that same vein, they had a terrible time of finding him thanks to his new skills; his unnatural speed and agility, that latent talent that allowed it to camouflage itself and move amidst the streets, undetected.

"CONTROL!"

Said slayer was currently thrashing and vibrating wildly on the apartment floor, screaming bloody murder. It grit his teeth mightily, gripped its head, smashed its body furiously into the four walls that had once belonged to Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto was Naruto but he was also no longer Naruto, he was now Carnage and _Carnage _wanted to kill; keep killing and KEEP killing, until the streets ran red with rivers of blood...

"No!"

It was like trying to swim upstream with a pair of led weights strapped to your ankles. Painful, excruciating, but not impossible. For someone with his sheer, indomitable willpower, it was quite possible. Slowly, painfully the mask parted, a sick squelching sound filling the air as Naruto's face emerged to the world once more, blue eyes blazing like hot coals in his head.

Gasping for breath, he hauled himself upright in the small, dingy bathroom. Bloody red daggers glared back at him from the mirror, but it was his face. His fist lashed out, cracking the glass, knuckles bleeding. Wait. It wasn't blood, just more of this strange creature, writhing and twining around his hand. Healing his wounds.

Whispering.

"We are in control!" he snapped, unaware that the "I" had become we ever since he'd bonded with Carnage. "We...will not submit!" And now, he'd beaten it back into submission. The symbiote-creature!-was like a wild animal, but it knew the pecking order and receded for the time being. Retreated, whimpering as its host grabbed it by the skull and throttled it like jerkey.

_**"What's wrong?"**_ the shattered reflection demanded of him. _**"We did what you wanted. We killed them! Killed all who hurt us! Even the pink one! Sliced her into little pieces...and they'll never know it was us!"**_

Naruto froze.

"...what?"

_**"We did it for you!"**_ the symbiote whined._** "All for you!"**_

"Oh, god. What have you...?!" The memory of what he'd done-what he'd let the symbiote do!-crashed over him in the next instant:

_Carnage stared down at his handiwork, grinning madly._

_**"Ah, now that was cathaaaaaartic."** It purred, flicking the blood off its claws.** "What's wrong? Got nothing to say? Hello? Operator? Anyone hooooome?"**_

_Slowly, painfully, its eyes tracked back to the corpse._

_Sakura's dead body stared back at him, her head hanging awkwardly from the ragged strip that had once been her neck, the sheets of her bed rapidly turning scarlet beneath this ever-growing pool of her blood. Part of him gibbered madly at what he'd just done, the other half was glad he'd finally silenced the noisy banshee. Then he did something strange. He chuckled. Softly at first, a slight snicker escaping him as he stared down at the hapless kunoichi bleeding out at his feet._

_"Heh...hehe...heheheheheHA!"_

_Then started laughing._

Naruto fought down the urge to vomit. He saw it all...remembered what he'd done...

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Carnage stared back at him, serene in its madness. _**"Because we could. We needed to. You wanted to."**_ His fist ground against the mirror again, shattering the symbiote's reflection even further. Unfazed, it stared back at him, its blank, white eyes and rictus of a grin betraying nothing but simply insanity. His insanity. How had it all gone wrong?! He'd just wanted to learn a simple jutsu! To think that all of this had happened, just because of that simple greed...

"We..._I_...did not want to kill Iruka! He was innocent! Now his blood is on our hands!"

_**"We cannot undo what we have done."**_

Something slammed into the door in the next instant, cutting off his reply-

"Uzumaki Naruto!" a rough voice called! "Open this door! By order of the Hokage we demand that you-

_**"DIE!"**_

Carnage went into a fit the moment the Anbu slammed into the room, shaking free from him and assuming control. Hands flicking forwards like knives, skewering the unlucky few that were first through the door, pinned them to the wall in a gross parody of human darts. They, were the lucky ones. They died quickly and didn't suffer. The rest didn't fare nearly was well.

One made the mistake of pausing to look at his impaled comrades; in the next instant, he was missing his legs. His team

He swooped through the three squads as if they were rank genin; cackling.

_**"Ohhhhhhhhhh, One corpse, two corpse, three corpse, four~!"**_ the symbiote sang merrily to itself as he ripped through them with contemptuous ease, cutting, slicing. _**"Five corpse, SIX corpse, ohhhhh, seven corpse, eight corpse, no mo-GAH! NOISE! What is that fucking noise?!"**_

Lightning lit the room a blinding white with a deafening crack of thunder, a peal of agony nearly vibrating it apart. Pain! How long had it been since it had felt this sensation! It remembered the annoying spider, the fire and the noise and the sound, and _angry_ it made it so ANGRY...

"There he is! Get him!

"What the hell is that?!

"The fox! It must be! Its taken control of him!

"Quickly!" Another voice called. "Before he recovers!"

_**"Hey, hey, hey,"** _he growled, still weak from the pain, _**"I ain't no fucking fox! Why don't you boys go meet him?!"**_

In that instant more came pouring. _**"Nyahahaha!"**_ Carnage bounded upright, moving from walls to ceiling to walls again, all the while tearing into them with a furious yowl Carving, gouging, cutting. Yes! This was what it lived for! All the chaos, the sweet glorious anarchy of it all-

And then, all too soon, it was over.

Before Naruto could even think that this was wrong, that it should be _stopped_, their ruined bodies were there, laying dead at his feet. Now he wanted to weep. He could feel his sixth sense _screaming_, now, insisting that danger was approaching, that he needed to flee, had to run, get out of here, escape. He couldn't control himself. Not yet. Not like this. It was impossible.

In hindsight, the answer to his problems was simple. If Konoha could not have him, then no one could.

_**"NO!"** _Carnage roared! _**"We will not allow you to kill yourself!"**_

"We are not killing ourselves." Naruto muttered wrapping up the bodies in red webbing. "We are leaving."

He felt a rumble of pause in his mind. Then came the laughter.

_**...we agree! We will behave, for now. There is nothing for us here. But elsewhere...yes! Such beautiful carnage...!"**_

"We do not like that name."

_**"Too bad. It is what we are."**_

Naruto paused considering. What did he owe the village? Nothing. No, less than nothing. The title of Hokage hadn't appealed to him since he was a boy-not with the way he'd been treated. He could count on the fingers of one hand those who had been kind to him, and two of those people probably wouldn't understand what he'd done, why he'd done it; nor that Iruka's death were a tragic accident. But the other's wouldn't see his acts for what they were.

He was a monster. And a monster had no place here.

But to leave meant that would be alone again; completely, wholly, utterly alone. He didn't want to be alone. And yet there was no other way about it. Ayame-chan and Teuchi-chan wouldn't understand why he'd done it, why he was doing this. That shy Hyuuga girl wouldn't understand, either. But maybe, just maybe there was one who could? No, no, she wouldn't. Unless...

Carnage offered him a thought; an idea, just a kernel of information. "_**Unless...?"**_

And, remarkably, he seized upon it.

* * *

_"Why the long face?"_

_He didn't answer; the quiet creak of the swing was the only reply. She frowned._

_"Hey? Kid! I'm talking to you!"_

_"I failed again." the boy despaired. "I always fail."_

_"Then just try harder." she said._

_He snorted. "I AM trying."_

_...hey, you like dango?" __She wasn't sure what compelled her to ask it, but she did._

_The boy looked back at her, sad and alone. A flicker of hope shone in those blank blue eyes._

_"What is dango?"_

* * *

_Tap-Tap-Tap._

"Go...'way. 'S'late...!" Mitarashi Anko groaned quietly in her bed as she woke from the memory/dream, trying-and failing horribly to ignore the incessant rapping noises beating upon her window. But the sound did not cease; if anything it grew louder; became more and more insistent. Resolving to ignore it, the special jonin buried her head beneath her pillow. It was then that the taping sound stopped. Good. Perhaps, had she been paying attention, she might've noticed the figure at her glass door, the long, clawed hand pressed imploringly against the frame.

_Aaargh!_

In a way it was a sick-ha!-blessing that she'd caught the flue this week, that she was safely inside, ensconed in her warm blankets whilst all hell broke loose outside. In the chaos, no one had thought to inform an ailing kunoichi of the danger; thus, she remained blissfully unaware of the chaos raging outside with the storm. Of the insanity in the streets. The slaughter. The carnage. No, she had no idea what had come for her this night.

She had no way of knowing...

...until the menace made itself known.

"Psst!" A strange voiced hissed. "Anko-chan! It is us! Let us in!"

Growling, she rolled out of bed, uncaring for her state of dress. The ebon nightgown she wore would've had most men standing at attention, but not this one, not the intruder at her door.

"I TOLD you, I'm trying to sle...sle...

Words betrayed her as she finally opened those sleep gummed eyes to find herself staring at a monster.

All scarlet and black, tall and thin, covered soaking wet against the rain, its white eyes menacing and curved, fangs open in a soft hiss. It looked at her pleadingly-hands splayed against the transparent door. Everything about it spoke of death and despair and it was looking at her with those eyes, those awful, terrible eyes...

"What the hell?!"

"No, wait!"

She was about to reach for a kunai when the impossible happened; its face peeled back! She watched, mystified as that horrific visage melted away, exposing the deep blue eyes, whiskered cheeks, and damp blond hair she'd always known. All of her thoughts and doubts froze. Shattered like so much glass. He looked so afraid, so frightened; something had scared him out of his wits, and he'd come to her. What on earth had happened to him...?

"Help...us...!"

Horror dawned in those hazel eyes.

_"Naruto?"_

He tapped softly at her window in answerment. "Please, we don't have much time! They are hunting us! Let us in!"

"For cryin' out loud...this is my day off!"

"PLEASE!"

Anko didn't hesitate; her hand fumbling with the catch, catching _him_ as he half-walked-half-stumbled inside. That was when she saw the kunai. Wedged solidly in the blond's back by some unknown assailant, should've been deadly. But when he reached around and plucked it out. The strange red-black material slithered around the wound, healing it instantly. The teenager groaned, twitching slightly in her arms. Something was clearly wrong with him; the Hokage needed to see this-

"No!" he snapped, as though having felt that very thought. "You cannot take us to him! He will not understand!"

"What on earth happened to you?"

"We are different." He muttered, trying, failing to stand. "This...we cannot get it off of us!"

"Whoa, you're going way too fast." she propped him up with an effort, grunting. "What is it?

He hissed, spitting the name like it was venom.

"Carnage."

"Alright, start from the beginning...

And he did.

Part of her had always empathized with the kid; she knew what it was like to be cursed for every breath you took, to be hated for something that you weren't. He'd understood her, too. They were outcast, shunned and reviled by those they served, despised despite all they did. Kindred spirits, of a sort. So, instead of listening to the increasingly vocal voice in her head, screaming that she needed to get AWAY from him, Mitarashi Anko stood her ground and heard him out.

By the time he had finished his short, grisly tale, she found she wasn't angry with him. Nay, she actually felt sorry for him. Pitied him. Here was a boy who'd struggled all his life to do the right thing, and a single night of violence had dashed his prospects, his goals, his dreams, all of it to ashes.

"We have done terrible things." he said, standing. "We have killed; we must leave."

"And you came all this way just to tell me that. Why?"

He blinked, as though it were obvious.

"Anko-chan has always been kind to us." A pause. "We," his cheeks seemed to color, "Always enjoyed eating dango with you."

For some strange reason, Anko actually felt tears gather in her eyes at that. Worse, she actually felt_...sad?_ What? No! Presposterous! Her mind railed against the prospect-rejecting the immediate conclusion. He was like a kid brother to her! It wasn't as if she'd miss him...that much...ah, balls...not crying! NOT! Defiant to the end, she chewed her lip and refused to let it show.

"But before we go, we have a question. Will you come with us?"

"Kid, I wish I could, but...

It was the wrong thing to say.

Carnage's mask closed around Naruto's face, tucking it away from the rest of the world. For a moment, just a moment, she thought he was going to kill her, too. By some miracle, he didn't. But the pain she saw in that young face, the agony before the mask hit it, hurt more than any blade.

_**"And what do you owe this place!?"** _he snapped, spinning away with feral hiss. _**"Nothing! It treats us- you!- like trash! No, less than that! We are nothing to it! Useless, wasteful, disgusting **_**pigs!**_** It is a poison to us! Venom! We HATE it! It takes everything from us! Even...even you! They deserve to burn! They should burn! YES! That is what we will do!"**_ Those eerie white eyes locked on the outside, its mask parting in a snarl._** "We will kill them all! WE-**_

Whatever else he might've said dissolved as Anko stepped up and grabbed him from behind. Before Naruto or Carnage could protest she spun him around to face her and shoved his head between her breasts. No mean feat, considering the seventeen-year-old was nearly a head taller than her. But it had the desired affect. He sputtered madly, arms flailing. She only held him tighter. Stupid. She felt like a fool. He was hurting and he'd come to her for comfort...who was she to push him away?

_**"What are you doing?!"**_

"You poor kid," she whispered, stroking his head. "Why didn't you tell me you were hurting like this?"

Carnage hissed. _**"We are not hurting! We want revenge!"**_

"I'm not talking to you, Carnage." she growled. "I'm talking to Naruto. Let me see your face."

The mask slid away with a soft squelch.

"Anko-chan?"

"I'll do it." she said, more to herself than to him." I"ll go with you." She had to. She realized that now. No one else could; She'd seen the hurt in those eyes, the pain-without someone to guide him, to reign his impulses in, Naruto would descend into Carnage and become little more than a killing machine. He was better than that. _She _was better than that. If she was to be his anchor, then she would; she would keep him from losing his grasp on sanity, from turning into another Orochimaru. Even if it cost her very life.

"Really?" it was little more than a whisper.

"Really. she nodded.

"Really, really, truly?"

"Yup."

"Really, really, really-

_"Naruto!"_

His smile was like a ray of sunshine. Had he planned this all along?

"Thank you, Anko-chan! We have gift for you."

Anko frowned. A gift?

"Give us your hand."

Reluctantly, she did.

"Okay...what are you doing?"

"Just a moment." the blond answered, flustered. "We...we are not sure how to do this, yet. Ah...now, how do we...ow. OW!"

Naruto/Carnage seemed to wrestle with itself for a moment, gasping in pained agonies, as though waging some great internal battle. Eventually the blond must've succeeded; because a portion of the symbiote leapt from his hand and into hers. A piece, just a tiny piece, but the more she looked at it, the larger it seemed to grow. Before her eyes it morphed from the bloody red black to an eerie, dark violet. Almost purple in color, it crawled across her hand like a glove, clinging to her skin.

Naruto smiled, looking as awed as she felt. "It...worked?" Then, louder, "It worked! We did not think...

Instead of terror, she felt only disbelief. "What are you...?"

"Sh, it won't hurt you. Don't resist."

"You say that, but-whoa!"

It was like an out-of-body experience as she watched -felt!- it move across her right arm, claiming her limb for its own. For her. It._ Us._ Almost like a second skin it laid claim to the rest of her body; writhing across her in slow, sensuous circles, claiming her bountiful breasts, stomach, thighs, and all the rest, flowing across her like water. She had just enough time to yelp before it swallowed her face-swadling her visage in a mas that was and was not that of Carnage.

_**"Hello."**_

Something brushed her mind, then. Touched her. An alien presence, ancient in its origins, yet at the same time infinitely young. A flicker of something she didn't understand, only that it felt the need to be close to her, a deep, primal need to live. Childlike in its desire to do so, to survive, to BOND.

The reflection that stared back at her was genuinely frightening; because it reminded her of Carnage. The eyes were smoother, more slanted, and there was no gaping maw of teeth, just a featureless mask, but the cold streaks of inky black against the violet, the sensual way it clung to her every curve, the way she could _feel _it...

"What did you do to us?" she frowned, knowing something was wrong with her speech, yet unable to understand. "We...what are we?"

Naruto preened.

"We gave you our child. Made you stronger. Better."

"What is...what are we?" she repeated in disbelief. "Kid, what is this thing?"

Impossibly, his grin grew.

_"Rapture."_

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaaaaand there we go! Renegade Older Naruto, with a very loose grasp on sanity as a whole...and add Carnage to the mix. Nooow, he's out of the village! With Anko, no less! Because, come on let's face it, I like Hinata but she's been done to death. Anko's probably the only one that WOULD empathize with him, at least hear his story. Now she's got a symbiote of her own, "Rapture" an amusing little name I thought of myself, and wham! They've flown the coop!**

** THE SYMBIOTE MADNESS HAS BEGUN! **

**So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course enjoy the preview! Expect me to follow canon? NOPE!**

**(Preivew!)**

_Naruto/Carnage cocked his head._

_"What are you offering us?"_

_A only smiled._

_"I've already stated the terms."_

_"You have. But you also know of our...tendencies." His voice hitched slightly, gazing absently at his still-bloody fingers. "You are not the first to try and sway us to your side. To seek our...gift since what we did in Wave. You may be the last." The simple way he said it would have put a lesser man on his guard, but the dark-skinned shinobi simply scoffed._

_"And why is that?"_

_"Because we are considering your offer." came the reply as the creature bounded off the wall. "You offer us everything we want. Sanctuary from Akatsuki, solace, and the chance to control ourselves. Among...other things._

_The Raikage grinned._

_"Do we have a deal, then?"_

_Carnage simply hummed. "Hmmm...we might go back to Wave. Haku-chan is still waiting for us there..._

_A had the distinct feeling that this guy wasn't entirely right in the head.._

**R&amp;R! =D**


	3. What is a Man?

**A/N: VIVA LA REQUEST YEAR! Finally decided on a damn name for the bloody thing. This fic got plenty of votes so its next on my update schedule! Geez, there's a lot to say and do here, so busy, busy, busy updating everything! Add to that my frenetic work schedule and the chaos that comes with it and I'm not getting much sleep. Honestly, I've been surprising myself with all of these wild and crazy updates as of late!**

**So, yeah! Story's back, writer's block is gone-boots it out the window-and my muse is back with a VENGEANCE.**

**Now remember...**

**...this an Alternate Universe theory here! Naruto is older, a fair bit so, than his fellow classmates. And now he's gone ROGUE. Make of it what you will! TIS VERY DARK! I know some are mad that Naruto can't use conventional jutsu atm, but that just makes him more reliant on the symbiote now, doesn't it? Speaking of which...**

**...our poor boy gets just a little light in the darkness, this chapter. Remember all that death that happened in the last two? Its catching up to Naruto.**

**HARD.**

**Consider this an interlude of sorts...**

_"You're mad."_

_"Y'see, we disagree. We think sanity's a funny thing. What is the definition of sanity, anyway? What for that matter, is a man?"_

_"A filthy bag of secrets."_

_"Bingo!"_

_~?_

**What is a Man? **

Uzumaki Naruto hated himself.

He was also going mad; Of that much he was fairly certain.

He just didn't know how to make it _stop._

Like a fraying rubber band tug of war in his mind, he felt himself being stretched thin with each passing day, torn between the symbiote's boiling insanity and his own waning rationality. Sleep was an impossibility; ever since he'd caught Carnage trying to take control of his limbs while he slept. It thrashed like a wild beast inside him, aching to sink its claws into anyone who dared cross their path. Cross _him._ When one considered that "anyone" presently amounted to little more than the occasional wayward squirrel and random deer, Naruto was even more loathe to unleash his alter ego upon the hapless forest and the harmless creatures who dwelt within.

They didn't deserve his wrath.

Many did, but not these.

Of course _thinking_ that and put it into practice were two entirely different things.

Even now, it took nearly everything he had just to tamp Carnage down during his waking hours. Surely there was a way to calm the beast; but if there was one, he wasn't having an luck in finding it. The symbiote was a petulant child; one that didn't know the meaning of the word no. It railed at him, hateful and mad, a vicious red storm longing only to destroy. The situation was only exacerbated by the presence of that damn fox in his stomach; because of course that _bastard _wanted to destroy everything which meant it all but sided with their new "guest" and all the chaos the crazy parasite brought with it. Carnage wanted to cut, to rend, to **KILL...!**

It didn't help that a part of _him_ wanted it, too.

Even now the symbiote called to him, offering him the sweet release that came with madness. The only thing tethering him to reality was the warmth of the fire and his companion tending to it. Dark red eyes flickered forward to the shadow on the log across from him, whistling softly as she roared a brace of rabbits for dinner. Firelight played havoc with her face, the shadows of the night rioting across those hazel eyes, her visage a pale ghost in the waxing embers of the flame.

Anko.

In the end, she'd fled with him for some reason.

Looking at her was still a little frightening sometimes; because she-the symbiote she wore-reminded him all too much of Carnage. _The eyes were smoother, more slanted, and there was no gaping maw of teeth, just a featureless mask. Cold streaks of inky black against the violet, the sensual way it clung to her every curve, the way he could feel it despite having separated himself from it, hear it-her!-calling to him. A siren call that sang in is blood like sweet, melodious music..._

"Hey, kid."

Naruto shook himself out of the memory with an effort.

..what?"

"Naruto," she frowned in concern, catching his eye across the fire. "You need to eat."

...'m not hungry."

"You said that three days ago."

"I'm still not hungry." the battered blond replied morosely. His stomach chose that moment to growl, eliciting a slight flush.

"You're going to eat something if I have to shove it down your throat myself!"

"But I don't wanna!"

"Na~ru~to!"

Naruto nearly flinched at the venom in her voice. It was true. He hadn't been eating. And why should he? He was perfectly content to waste away. Let Carnage torment someone else! Better for him that way-URK! His thoughts found themselves violently dismembered as Anko thrust a rabbit's leg into his mouth, bone and all. He swallowed the former and spat the latter out instinctively, but before he could he could think to reply, he found his mouth filled with the rest of their meager meal. When he made no move to swallow, his fellow missing nin jabbed him in the throat, forcing the reflex.

"What the hell was that for?!" he sputtered!

"Listen, you little...!" she growled. "I-we," she stumbled over the word for a moment in her agitation, "Left the village because of you and I'll be _damned _if I let you waste away over some damn hero complex! Now eat! Or I'll knock your ass out and force freed you!"

Naruto meekly complied.

She was angry with him.

She had every right to be.

As much as he might hate it, Anko was likely going to _stay_ cross with him for some time yet; after all, she'd fled the village due in no small part to his actions. It seemed merely being associated with the "Kyuubi" was damning in their eyes. Toss in the "Rapture" symbiote and you had a recipe for disaster. He hadn't been willing to stand and face their so-called justice; he knew all to well what that meant. Hanging at the very least, or endless torment at Ibiki's hands. No, he'd needed to leave, and against all odds he had-with no small amount of aid on Anko's part-with no lasting wounds to show for it.

Even now they weren't free and clear.

Not yet.

So long as they lingered in the Land of Fire, there was a chance that something might go...wrong. That he'd slip up. Lose himself. That they'd be caught. And if they were caught...well, being caught was the least of his worries. This wasn't one of his pranks. Old man Hokage wouldn't give him a lecture, he wouldn't be able to weasel his way out with a cheery grin and a halfhearted promise not to do it again. Naruto had no doubt that if he -or Anko for that matter- so much as set foot in the Leaf again, they'd be executed on the spot. He couldn't go back. Ever.

He'd killed too many.

Just like Iruka.

Who knew how many others he'd conveniently forgotten; how many Carnage had sank its claws into before he regained control.

That was _another _can of worms he had no interest in opening, if only for the pain involved. But despite his own self-loathing, Anko's words had gotten through to him, in their own way. She wanted him to live? He'd live. He'd beat this damn thing. Damn if he knew how, but he was determined to try. Now they just had to get out of Fire Country. Once they did, perhaps then he could find a way to reign himself in.

The Land of Waves was as good a place to seek shelter as any, or so Anko claimed.

All the same, he couldn't help but feel he'd forgotten something...

* * *

_(Miles Away, in the Leaf...)_

* * *

Hinata Hyuuga was not having the best day.

Or week, for that matter.

Overworked to the point of risking chakra exhaustion, she cast her Byakugan over the ruined apartment once more, seeking a clue that simply wasn't there. All that awaited her was rubble. Naruto's home had fallen into disrepair since the attack to put it lightly; three quarters of the roof were nigh but gone, the already rotten floor creaked treacherously beneath her feet, threatening to give way at any moment and she was fairly certain that grafiti hadn't been there before, either. Still, if she focused hard enough, she could see the bloodstains where he'd butchered a squad of Anbu. Nearly an entire squad!

The sole survivor was in critical condition, but his mad ramblings mentioned a creature that called itself "Carnage." That, and wounding the berserk blond before fleeing. It wasn't much to go on but it was a start at least -even if she had yet to find anything- it was more than she'd had at the beginning of the week.

How had all this happened?

Her beloved blond's escape tore Konoha apart in more ways than one. Not only had his rampage and subsequent escape exposed the village's vulnerability, but it served to divide the civilian and shinobi as well. Many of them demanded that the Hokage hunt down the "demon fox" and put him to death for his treacherous crimes. Others were sympathetic to the outburst, citing the torment and abuse he'd suffered through the years. Or at least they had been before the first corpses were discovered.

The body count that followed put the Uchiha Massacre to shame.

As if that weren't damning enough, Naruto-kun had somehow managed to murder many of those who'd wronged him-including several of Konoha's elite ninja and more than a few genin he'd quarreled with back in their academy days-before making his getaway. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno chief among them. It rankled Hinata a bit that the death of the last Uchiha drew more grief from the citizens of Konoha than anyone else. It, well, perhaps she it was remiss to think ill of the dead...

Battered but not beaten, the survivors were left behind to pick up those pieces.

She was one of those survivors.

Be it irony or fate, or some sordid twist of god himself, she, and the majority of the Hyuuga clan, had made it through that first vicious night where others had not. Now she was hard at work trying to make sense of this madness, taking task of the aftermath and sifting through the destruction her crush had wrought. In hindsight it was nothing short of a miracle that she'd gotten away at all. While it was true that Naruto had indeed paid a brief visit to the Hyuuga Compound, he hadn't really hurt anyone.

Scared the living hell out of a few Hyuuga and launched Father-sama through a wall, certainly, but for some reason the Hyuuga suffered virtually no casualties.

Ironically enough, the lone fatality consisted of a heart attack.

By that count, a bit of embarassment would be the least of her worries.

She didn't know much, only that the situation was still something of a volatile one.

Especially when one considered just how desperately she was scrambling for clues in a deserted hovel.

The guards on either side of the door refused to so much as speak to her, silent as the grave. Which wasn't all that surprising once Hinata realized how ill they thought of her. It didn't matter how scarcely she associated with the blond in the past; she'd been _seen _with him and that was all that mattered. In a fit of paranoia many of the village denizens branded her a sympathizer, yet another stifling label slapped atop her own regret and lingering self doubt. Still, she _was_ one of the few Hyuuga presently within the village walls capable of observing the so-called crime scene in any detail.

Poor Naruto-kun. There was no way out for him now, not after this, not anymore, and her heart wept at the thought. Naruto-kun had been, well, he hadn't exactly noticed her, but the older boy hadn't been cruel to her, either. His resolve, his determination had inspired her. Emboldened her. She wanted to be like him, to prove she could be _more _than what others thought of her.

So much more.

So when the Anbu were rounding up Hyuuga volunteers to inspect the village, she'd readily volunteered. The _only_ volunteer. The rest of the clan was either beyond the walls or simply wanted nothing to do with the "red demon" after that frightful scare. She had been forced to beg and plead with Father merely to be allowed outside. Had he known of her involvement in the investigation he would've been furious. Hinata herself had only barely glimpsed her crush as little more than a scarlet blur, then he was gone.

Perhaps had she _seen_ what he'd become, she would have been far more wary.

Alas, she did not, and thus, she didn't blame Naruto-kun for any of what had transpired. How could she?

Even with the truth of his "guest" known, she simply couldn't find in her to be angry with him.

The village had done as it always had; taken a singular opinion and turned it into something vicious. It had created a volatile boy and put him down at every turn. Beat him. Abused him. Repeated the hateful process as he grew into a teenager, continued to badger and berate him relentlessly for every perceived slight...until the day came that he finally snapped.

By the time of his escape, she'd almost _wanted _him to leave. Anything was better than-

_"Help...us..."_

The heiress froze.

"Hello?" she squeaked.

_"Help..._

Little more than a whisper, not quite a sigh, the voice plucked at her again.

"Where are...?"

Something-she wasn't rightly sure what-compelled her to turn her head just a bit. A pale substance caught her eye, at that moment. She wouldn't have noticed it at all, were it not for her Byakugan. Half-buried beneath a collapsed cabinet, it was little more than a stain on the thrice soiled carpet. Nudging it aside, she found_...something._ She couldn't think of any other word to describe it. Like a tiny puddle, ghostly white in its pallor and no larger than her thumb, it looked relatively harmless. No, wait...now that the fallen furniture had been moved it seemed even smaller, somehow.

Yet where had the voice come from, then?

What was it?

Against her better judgement, Hinata dared brush her finger against it. The puddled offered a brief shiver, resisting, then fell slack, clinging to the extended digit tightly. **_Fear._ **The emotion hit her like a freight train, not from within, but without. Several strange sensations slipped into her all at once._ Pain. Severed from the host. Hurt. Dying. Help. NEED help...!_

Let it never be said that Hinata Hyuuga didn't have a gentle heart.

"W-Where you talking to me?"

Emotions bombarded her like a rain of kunai.

_'Help.'_ it babbled at her._ 'Lost. Hurt. Need help. Want to help. Have to find. Carnage. Naruto. Won't hurt.'_

"Carnage?" the word thrummed inside her head. "Naruto? You...you know where they are?!"

Desperation clawed at her madly.

_'Yes! Same. Host. PLEASE!'_

Half a beat.

...okay."

_'YES!'_

Where most would have recoiled in fear, Hinata experienced only a quiet curiosity. Fascination, even. A strange understanding fell over her. The creature, whatever it was, was young. Dying. In desperate need of a host, so too did it desire to find the being from which it had been torn. Carnage. Naruto. One and the same. She could be the host. She could use it to find him. What did the village matter? Understanding was imparted in an instant, consensus shared as surey as it could be between two such beings, desires met and satisfied.

The starved symbiote didn't hesitate.

Pale eyes bulged as the puny puddle latched onto her hand, coating her palm in a eerie, pinkish white substance. Then it crept up her arm, pallid tendrils covering her limb in a rippling pool. It didn't hurt. Simultaneously gaining shape and mass as it traveled the length of her outstretched limb, so too did the symbiot grow more frenzied in its efforts, hastening to attach itself to the the entirety of her being. To bond. Like taking a _looong _dip in the hot springs, warmth flooded her body; her arm, then her shoulders, collarbone, chest, stomach, legs. I became _we. Us._

Oddly enough the union brought no pain, only calm resolve.

Determination.

Surety of purpose.

Impossibly, Hinata felt the beginnings of a smile pluck at her lips.

_**"We agree!"**_

That was her last thought before the being rose up and swallowed her face.

_Absolute Carnage._

**A/N: DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING DID YA?! Aaaaaaaand there we go! Renegade Older Naruto, with a very loose grasp on sanity as a whole...and add Carnage to the mix. Needless to say, this is going to make him somewhat infamous in the Bingo Book, not to mention Hinata's gone and got herself a symbiote now! **

**Haven't come up with a name for her's yest, but I'm thinking something along the lines of "Zeal" or somesuch?**

** THE SYMBIOTE MADNESS HAS BEGUN! **

**So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course enjoy the preview! Expect me to follow canon? NOPE!**

**(Preivew!)**

_Naruto/Carnage cocked his head._

_"What are you offering us?"_

_Ay only smiled._

_"I've already stated the terms."_

_"You have. But you also know of our...tendencies." His voice hitched slightly, gazing absently at his still-bloody fingers. "You are not the first to try and sway us to your side. To seek our...gift since what we did in Wave. You may be the last." The simple way he said it would have put a lesser man on his guard, but the dark-skinned shinobi simply scoffed._

_"And why is that?"_

_"Because we are considering your offer." came the reply as the creature bounded off the wall. "You offer us everything we want. Sanctuary from Akatsuki, solace, and the chance to control ourselves. Among...other things._

_The Raikage grinned._

_"Do we have a deal, then?"_

_Carnage simply hummed. "Hmmm...we might go back to Wave. Haku-chan is still waiting for us there..._

_A had the distinct feeling that this guy wasn't entirely right in the head.._

**R&amp;R! =D**


End file.
